PORT ANGELES — A Mother’s Day and Cinco de Mayo breakfast to benefit a new playground for Shane Park drew 177 to the Port Angeles Masonic Temple on Sunday.
It raised an estimated $700 for Shane Park Playground Committee, which is trying to purchase a $130,000 play area with slides, climbing walls, swings and safety surfaces.
“Everyone had a good time,” said Janet Young, Shane Park Playground Committee president. “We were pretty well packed in there.
“Being Mother’s Day, I thought it could have gone either way. But it went very well.”
The 16-member committee had already raised $16,570 to match a $60,000 commitment from the city of Port Angeles.
The wheelchair-accessible Playcraft Systems playground would replace the antiquated baby slide at the West Port Angeles park between Sixth and Eighth streets.
With $77,000 raised, the committee needs to come up with another $53,000 to reach its goal.
Sunday’s breakfast was the second of four breakfast benefits for the playground.
Other breakfasts are planned for May 29 and June 12. Both will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Masonic Temple, 622 S. Lincoln St., Port Angeles.
The city of Port Angeles has applied for a state grant to help cover the cost of the new playground, which would sit on a cushioned safety surface in the park’s northeast corner.
Young said the city and the playground committee will find out whether grant is approved by November.
Meanwhile, the committee is planning other fundraisers such as a baseball tournament concession stand June 4 and 5.
The Shane Park Playground Committee will staff a booth at the Clallam County Fair Aug. 18-21.
In April, a dinner, dance party and benefit auction raised $6,129 for the playground equipment.
Young’s vision for a state-of-the-art playground in the park near her home on Sixth Street was inspired by her son, Shane, who died almost 38 years ago after a construction mishap at the park that bear’s his name.
Shane was playing on an upright 4-foot-diameter concrete ring while the park was being built Aug. 13, 1973, when it fell on him.
Nine-year-old Shane died 12 days after the accident.
Young is quick to credit the other members of the committee for their hard work on the campaign.
Committee members are Port Angeles City Councilwoman Cherie Kidd, Port Angeles Parks and Streets Superintendent Corey Delikat, Bob Fowler, Amy Billings, Ken and Julie Reandeau, Katie Osorio, Brenda Taffie, Shelly Raymer, Howard and Lilly Lacy, Jeana Johnson, Leanne Johnson, Ray Doty, Sue Stoneman and Young.
“All have worked very hard,” Young said. “And we’re not done.”
Donations for the playground equipment, with checks made out to the Kiwanis Club, can be mailed to Shane Park Playground, P.O. Box 1064, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.